--- title: "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" year: 1974 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla" fi1m_id: "godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla" imdb_id: "tt0071565" tmdb_id: 38582 wikidata_id: "Q251335" fi1m_score: 64 critics_reviews: 1 published: "2026-09-28T20:45:46.575584+00:00" updated: "2026-09-28T20:45:57.799029+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) Directed by Jun Fukuda · 1h 24m · MPA G · Action, Adventure, Science Fiction ## Identity Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla - **IMDb ID:** tt0071565 - **TMDB ID:** 38582 - **Wikidata ID:** Q251335 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071565/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/38582, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q251335 **Fi1m score: 64** · Critics: 1 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Godzilla fights his own chrome tribute act while men in sunglasses chase each other round Okinawa > Jun Fukuda gives Godzilla a chrome double with missiles in its fingers, and the monster scenes are the reason to be here. Between them, spies, priests and professors run about Okinawa explaining things, and the film keeps stopping to let them. ## Synopsis On Okinawa, engineer Keisuke Shimizu (Masaaki Daimon) is surveying a new resort when the ground gives way to reveal a stone chamber, a statue of a guardian beast and a wall of writing nobody can read. His brother Masahiko (Kazuya Aoyama) has found a lump of metal no foundry on Earth could have made. Archaeologist Saeko Kanagusuku (Reiko Tajima) translates the prophecy: a monster will come to destroy the world, and two more will rise to stop it. Nami (Beru-Bera Lin), princess of the Azumi royal family, has seen it in a vision. Then Godzilla climbs out of Mount Fuji with none of his usual manners, and the men in sunglasses following the Shimizu brothers turn out to be from further away than Tokyo. ## Review Jun Fukuda’s *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla* runs 84 minutes and tries to be three films in that time: a lost-civilisation adventure on Okinawa, a spy picture full of Interpol agents and men in sunglasses, and a wrestling bill with a robot on it. Hiroyasu Yamaura and Fukuda wrote the script from a story by Masami Fukushima and Shinichi Sekizawa, and you can see the joins. The third film is the one worth your evening. The robot is the reason it has lasted. Tomoki Kobayashi and Nobuyuki Yasumaru are credited with costume design, which in a Godzilla picture means building the monsters, and Mechagodzilla is a fine piece of work: a full-body chrome plate that catches Yuzuru Aizawa’s light, fingers that fire off as missiles, a head that spins to throw up a shield, a beam from the eyes in rainbow colours. When the false Godzilla’s skin burns away to show the metal underneath, we sat forward, and we had read the title. That is the film doing its one job well. The real Godzilla, beside it, has seen better days; the suit is heavy at the jowls and the eyes have the fixed look of a toy left on a shelf. The people are harder to love. Masaaki Daimon plays the engineer Keisuke Shimizu with the stiffness of a man reading his lines off the horizon, and Kazuya Aoyama, as his brother Masahiko, mostly runs. Reiko Tajima’s archaeologist Saeko is handed the prophecy to translate and little else. Akihiko Hirata, as Professor Miyajima, brings some weight, and Hiroshi Koizumi’s Professor Wagura is there to nod at him. Shin Kishida’s Interpol agent Nanbara, in dark glasses and a karate stance, is the film’s idea of cool, and he is not wrong. Gorō Mutsumi plays the alien leader Kuronuma as a middle manager with a grievance, which is funnier than it sounds. We were bored for stretches, and we can say where. Every time the script leaves the monsters to follow Daigo Kusano’s Yanagawa and his fellow agents around the island, it becomes men in sunglasses chasing men in sunglasses, and Michiko Ikeda cuts between the chases, the cave and the resort as if asked to keep three pots warm at once. Nobody stays on screen long enough to matter. When the sunglasses come off and we see what was under them, we laughed, then felt a little ashamed, because the effect is not meant to be funny and the actors are doing their best inside it. Kazuo Satsuya’s production design is more careful than the film around it. The alien base is a room of consoles and coloured light; the Azumi cave is a proper set, with a stone guardian and carved script, and Aizawa lights it so the shadows move when the actors do. The Okinawa exteriors are bright and open, all coast and sky, and the film looks better outdoors than most Godzilla pictures of its decade. Masaru Satō’s score is the other pleasure: brass, a walking bass under the fights and a lounge shuffle under the spies, as if the whole thing were happening in a hotel bar. The Okinawan strand, with Masao Imafuku as the high priest Tengan Kunito and Beru-Bera Lin as Princess Nami, is played with a sincerity the rest of the film does not attempt. The prophecy promises a second guardian monster, and how it is roused in the last act we will leave to you; we will say the method is the film’s most agreeably daft idea and that Satō gets a song out of it. The final fight is staged with room to see who is hitting whom, which is not always the case in this series. Set against the 1954 original this is a toy-box film, and it knows it. Fukuda is not making a warning about the bomb; he is making a Saturday matinee with a chrome centrepiece, and on those terms it is one of the more watchable Godzilla pictures of the 1970s. The 12A is right. A child will be fine throughout, and an adult will be fine for about half of it. See it for the robot, ideally with someone young enough to want one. The middle forty minutes are for putting the kettle on. *Fi1m score 64, published 28 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla worth watching?** *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla* is worth watching for the robot, and we scored it 64. Mechagodzilla, a chrome double with missiles in its fingers, is a fine piece of work, and the final fight is staged so you can see who is hitting whom. The spy business between the monster scenes is slow, and an adult will drift for the middle forty minutes. **How long is Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and what is it rated?** *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla* runs 1h 24m and is rated G by the MPA in the US. It is an action and adventure film. **Where can I watch Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla in the US?** *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla* is streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US. It leaves The Roku Channel on 30 September. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and is it suitable for children?** *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla* is a 12A in the UK and mild by any modern measure: monster suits wrestling, missiles, coloured beams, men in sunglasses chasing each other around Okinawa. A child will be fine throughout. The one reveal under the sunglasses is meant to be unsettling and comes out closer to funny, so nobody squeamish need worry. **How does Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla compare to Pacific Rim?** *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla* is a toy-box film from 1974 with a chrome centrepiece; [*Pacific Rim*](https://film.one/film/pacific-rim) is the same idea built at blockbuster scale with far more care, and its Hong Kong fight is the better set piece. Both have thin people. Choose the Godzilla film for its daft charm and Masaru Satō's lounge score, del Toro's for the weight of the hits. ### Reviews we read (1) - **Time Out**, IB (50/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a patchy romp. It singles out the villainous spacemen’s plan to devastate Earth using Mechagodzilla. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/godzilla-vs-the-bionic-monster) ## Details - **Director:** Jun Fukuda - **Director:** Jun Fukuda - **Screenplay:** Jun Fukuda, Hiroyasu Yamaura - **Story:** Masami Fukushima, Shinichi Sekizawa - **Cinematography:** Yuzuru Aizawa - **Editor:** Michiko Ikeda - **Music:** Masaru Satō - **Production design:** Kazuo Satsuya - **Costume design:** Nobuyuki Yasumaru, Tomoki Kobayashi - **Cast:** Masaaki Daimon as Keisuke Shimizu; Kazuya Aoyama as Masahiko Shimizu; Reiko Tajima as Saeko Kanagusuku; Akihiko Hirata as Professor Hideto Miyajima; Hiroshi Koizumi as Professor Wagura; Masao Imafuku as Tengan Kunito, the Azumi Royal Family High Priest; Beru-Bera Lin as Nami Kunito, the Azumi Royal Family Princess; Shin Kishida as Interpol Agent Nanbara - **Runtime:** 1h 24m - **Certificate (MPA):** G - **Release (the US):** 19 November 1976 - **Genres:** Action, Adventure, Science Fiction - **Box office:** $1 million ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming - Hulu: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-09-30 - Amazon Prime Video: add-on *Checked 2026-09-28.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Terror of Mechagodzilla* (1975): The direct sequel: the same robot, rebuilt, and a much gloomier heart - *The Mysterians* (1957): Toho’s earlier space invaders, with a giant robot and the colour cranked up - *Gamera: Guardian of the Universe* (1995): The rival turtle, remade with a straight face and far better effects - *Pacific Rim* (2013), Fi1m 70: Guillermo del Toro’s robots hit monsters in the rain, and nobody apologises — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/pacific-rim.md) - *The Host* (2006): Bong Joon-ho’s river monster, with a family that behaves like an actual family --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla